Skill Shortage Hinders Cloud Migration

NaviSite Europe has announced the results of a survey that found that whilst most UK businesses recognise the benefits of cloud computing, they are also still running a significant amount of systems either in-house, or externally on traditional platforms. In fact, over three-quarters of those surveyed have migrated less than 50 per cent of their infrastructure to the cloud. Not having the right tools and technical skills required to execute a migration were cited as a major detractor. NaviSite surveyed* more than 250 IT professionals from organisations with more than 300 employees across the UK and US to understand cloud computing adoption, what companies look for in a cloud service provider and to understand concerns over migrating to a cloud based infrastructure.

For UK respondents, when it comes to evaluating a cloud service provider to host a business’ IT infrastructure, not surprisingly, 59 per cent of respondents said security is a main concern. Interestingly, nearly half said the ability to customise solutions to meet their unique needs was an extremely important aspect to consider in the selection process. Thirty one per cent said the service provider’s ability to unlock tangible cost saving on existing spend was their top consideration.

In the UK, 45 per cent of survey respondents said that business continuity and reliability are the biggest drivers to implementing an overall cloud strategy, and 89 per cent say that deploying some sort of private cloud and hybrid infrastructure is a priority within the next 12 months.

With the proliferation of the mobile workforce, it’s no wonder that 94 percent of UK respondents noted that enabling mobility is a concern, which has driven many companies to seek out and deploy cloud-based solutions such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) or Desktop-as a-Service (Daas), or Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) to help manage their growing mobile workforce. However, it’s not always about enabling higher productivity as 43 per cent of UK respondents replied, securely managing data available to remote and/or temporary workers is the biggest consideration when evaluating mobility solutions.

Despite the concern to enable mobility, 68 percent of UK businesses surveyed still do not have a BYOD policy, and nearly half said that IT team resources and skills posed the biggest challenge. Implementing a sound BYOD policy can provide several key benefits to companies, including increased productivity, or reduced IT and operating costs.

Colocation services which are currently being used by 35% of the respondents in the UK are set to increase with 82% of all respondents indicating that they would be either using or considering the use of colocation within a year. Specific requirements around security and cost of service were the main factors influencing colocation decisions.

“In the last several years we have seen more businesses realize the benefits of cloud infrastructure adoption and also building hybrid strategies to accommodate their traditional systems. While organisations have made a positive step towards implementing cloud-based services, the survey highlights that there are still some challenges these users face,” said Sean McAvan, managing director, NaviSite Europe Ltd. “Effective business leaders recognise that while they need to leverage virtual technologies to remain competitive, they also need to leverage their existing investments in traditional platforms. Those companies who most effectively leverage cloud and virtual technology often partner with a managed service provider, freeing them up to focus on their core competencies.”